http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
LAST WEEK, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno made good on President
Clinton's State of the Union address threat to sue tobacco manufacturers to
recover federal health-care costs associated with cigarette smoking-related
illnesses. This most recent attempt at extortion of cigarette manufacturers,
and ultimately smokers, should raise all sorts of red flags.

Elites, both in and out of Washington, want to control our lives. Our
acquiescence to their tobacco attack is laying the groundwork for much
bolder actions in the future.

Reno said that tobacco manufacturers are to be held responsible for the
federal costs of treating people with smoking-related diseases. Suppose we
substitute the word obesity-related diseases for smoking-related diseases,
then why not mount a similar attack on food manufacturers, restaurateurs,
and the beer, wine and alcohol industries. Anti-cigarette zealots are not
the nation's only lifestyle Nazis -- there are other busybody organizations
who will use the attack on smokers as a precedent for their agenda.

Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, says about large food servings, "It's high time the (restaurant)
industry begins to bear some responsibility for its contribution to obesity,
heart disease and cancer."

Dr. Ronald Griffiths, at Johns Hopkins University, concerned about coffee
addiction, says, "If health risks are well-documented, caffeine could be
catapulted in public perception from a pleasant habit to a possibly harmful
drug of abuse." Along with Michael Jacobson, he wants the FDA to regulate
caffeine content in soda, coffee, tea and chocolate.

There's much more at stake than simply the matter of the government's suit
against tobacco manufacturers. Reno's actions represent another attack on
our withering Constitution and the rule of law that stands between liberty
and tyranny.

"A government of laws and not of men" means that rules are known in advance
and apply to rulers as well as the ruled. Liberty means that individuals are
shielded from the whims of rulers as well as the whims of the majority.

Majorities can be just as despotic as tyrants. After all, Jim Crow laws
reflected the will of the majority. In one sense, despotic majorities are
worse than a despotic tyrant because majority rule creates an aura of
respectability. One might understand how a large percentage of Americans can
come to despise 40 million to 50 million of their fellow Americans who
smoke. But surely these people, I would hope, don't also despise our
Constitution and rule of law.

The tobacco controversy conclusively demonstrates the perils of socialism.

We've gone a long way toward the socialization of our health-care services.
As such, Medicaid and Medicare give government the "right" to tell us how to
live our lives. After all, the primary justification for intrusions such as
seatbelt, air-bag and helmet mandates is that, if we injure ourselves, the
government (taxpayers) will have to bear the costs.

But where does it end? Exercise reduces health-care costs; so do nutritious
diets, eight hours of sleep, moderate alcohol consumption ... you name it.

Will a day come when Washington makes us exercise; legislates diet mandates
and requires us to go to bed at a certain time?

You say, "Williams, that's absurd!" Let's go back to the '50s, when
cigarette Nazis were demanding separate smoking sections on airplanes. Had
anyone back then protested, predicting what we see today, he would have also
been greeted with, "That's absurd!"

Tyrants never take away liberties all at once. They do it bit by bit. Or,
as the great philosopher David Hume said, "It is seldom that liberty of any
kind is lost all at
once."